North and South Korea agree to reopen Kaesong Industrial Zone

North and South Korea have agreed to restart regular operations at the jointly run Kaesong Industrial Zone after 16 hours of intense talks on Sunday.

Suh Ho, South Korea’s chief delegate stated that the North seemed very willing to rapidly resolve the Kaesong issue.

The Kaesong Industrial Zone is a source of much needed revenues for cash-strapped North Korea.

According to Al Jazeera news, Seoul is pressing Pyongyang to guarantee that stoppages at the facility will not be used as a political bargaining chip in the future, and that operations at Kaesong will only resume if North Korea can agree to such terms.

The two Koreas will meet again on July 10^th at the facility to hold inspections and prevent future suspensions in operation.

North Korea unilaterally closed the Kaesong Industrial Zone three months ago, withdrawing all 53,000 workers and stopping all incoming supplies from the South at the height of tensions between the two Koreas.

Flickr Photo by: comradeanatolii

STORY WRITTEN BY: SPOON JUNG